Law office management often is referred to as the business side of legal practice. To an extent, this characterization is accurate, but it also is limited. Law office management also may refer to the conduct of the sometimes mundane activities that must be accomplished to allow the core functions of a legal practice to be performed in an efficient manner (Gottschalk 79). In essence, law office management brings some degree of order to the chaos surrounding legal practice.
Legal practice organizations are among the many and diverse entities that have found that information technology, properly applied, can be an almost indispensable tool in the effort to introduce and maintain order among all of the elements in the complex environment of legal practice. Computers represent the essential tool involved in the application of information technology in legal practice organizations (Edwards 98-112).
The application of information technology in legal practice organizations involves diverse aspects of the functioning of such organizations, each of which can support an in-depth study. At a macro level, however, the various applications in information technology in legal practice organizations may be reviewed together within the context of the implementation and operation of knowledge management in legal practice organizations (Gottschalk, 80).
Knowledge and Knowledge Management in Legal Practice Organizations
Knowledge has become a primary resource in many different types of organizations. Knowledge, however, has always been a primary resource in legal practice organizations. Legal practice organizations are implementing computer-supported knowledge management procedures and technologies on the promise of increasing effectiveness, efficiency, and competitiveness. The basis of such promises is an assumption that knowledge is a positive factor (Martin 6).
Knowledge, however, can produce different outcomes in different situ...